Has there ever been a game featuring as many crossovers as Fortnite? We’ve seen everything from Radiohead being featured as a lobby track, to players being able to wear Jordan outfits and sneakers, to pop singer Ariana Grande becoming a playable character with her own story arc.
For sheer weight of playable characters, Fortnite might still just be running a little short of the Super Smash Bros. franchise –– but the breadth of collaborations puts Nintendo’s beloved brawler to shame. You’re not going to see musicians like Marshmello or sports stars like England soccer captain Harry Kane line up against Mario anytime soon.
Amidst Fortnite’s endless collaborations, some of the most exciting have involved characters from other games –– with Kait Diaz and Marcus Fenix from Gears Of War being some of the latest to join the action.
This category, however –– of characters from the broader gaming universe –– is pretty much inexhaustible. So just for fun, we wanted to suggest a few possibilities for future additions to Fortnite.
The SNK Roster
It could be argued that the phenomenon of character crossovers started back in the late ’80s and early ’90s with SNK’s beat-em-ups; the King Of Fighters games basically amounted to tourneys between characters from other franchises like Fatal Fury and Metal Slug. In 1999, SNK also teamed up with Capcom for the SNK Vs Capcom series, which pitted SNK characters such as Terry Bogard and Leona against the likes of Street Fighter’s Zangief and Final Fight’s Rolento. Given Ryu and Chun-Li from Street Fighter have already made appearances in Fortnite, some Battle Royale duo-on-duo action would be pretty cool. Regardless though, we’d love to see a chunk of the SNK roster introduced in Fortnite.
Fox McCloud
We know… we know… Nintendo doesn’t license its characters to anyone else’s games. Ever. But that’s what everyone said about Disney, too, until Kingdom Hearts came along. Incidentally, the Star Fox IP is some that Nintendo hasn’t visited in quite some time; McCloud’s last outing in Star Fox Adventures on the Gamecube was released way back in 2002! That game was a 3D action/adventure –– think Super Mario 64 et al –– which helped pave the way for the sandbox-style games of today, like Fortnite. So if Nintendo were to revisit it, and maybe if Fox was a limited-time character used to promote a Star Fox revival on the Nintendo Switch game… maybe it could happen?
Rich Wilde
You might not have realized it if this isn’t your go-to gaming arena, but online casinos –– and slots in particular –– produce a lot of colorful characters these days. Rich Wilde may be the most recognizable of the bunch. He’s been with us since the release of Rich Wilde And The Aztec Symbols back in 2013, and has since been attached to a number of successful slot games such as Aztec Idols and Tome Of madness. Wilde is a handsome, brash archaeologist (sound familiar?) who simply radiates a sense of adventure. He’d certainly be a fun addition, and we have a hunch casino developers wouldn’t mind lending him out to gain exposure.
Cashtro
If Rich Wilde blazed the trail for slot game heroes, there’s been a raft of them in his wake. Most notable among hem are the titular Gonzo of Gonzo’s Quest and Cashtro from Cashtro’s Voyage. Both games concern themselves with exploration of adventurous new lands and waters. But while Gonzo has made the greater impact on the internet casino industry, the Cashtro’s Voyage slot hosted on Gala Bingo presents a more battle-ready character. This game was programmed originally by Konami, so this should come as no surprise; the company’s been making memorable gaming characters spanning from 1981’s Frogger, through Bomberman, to Metal Gear’s Solid Snake. Cashtro, for his part, is a strapping sea captain who looks ready to drop into Fortnite and do damage.
Goose
Not Top Gun’s Goose, but the character from.. well… Untitled Goose Game. This is basically a game in which a goose annoys you to no end. It would take a special kind of gamer to play as the goose; everyone hates that goose. But if Epic wants to sell more in-game weaponry for Battle Royale, this would be a smart character to embrace. Taking out that goose at the very start of a battle before he starts annoying you with rakes? So satisfying. People want to nuke that goose from space. Twice.
The Skyrim Guard
“I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee.” This has long been a quotable meme, spilling out of Elder Scrolls forums and finding itself posted ad infinitum in Reddit responses to the most unlikely of topics. Wouldn’t you like to know some back story? What was this enigmatic guard’s life like, and how did he end up on the bad side of a skilled archer? He’d be a great tongue-in-cheek addition… particularly if his equivalent of a head shot were a hit to the knee.
We’re spitballing, of course. As far as new characters go, Fortnite has previously drawn from such a diverse portfolio that we could see the game embracing any of these –– or none of them. Whatever Epic does have in the pipeline, though, is pretty much guaranteed to be memorable.
